Desert or Promised Land?

Resolutions and goals. Words that make me cringe because I fail so often. For many years I thought that by simply not making any goals I'd be safe from falling short and failure, but I was wrong. I've found that I wander aimlessly without goals.

Recently I finished reading through the Pentateuch and I was reminded that I'm not the only one that tends to wander. Israel spent 40 years wandering in the desert and there's a very good reason for why they did. Fear. I have a lot in common with the Israelites.

Israel was ready to enter the Promised Land. Moses said to them,

“See, the Lord your God has placed the land before you; go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has spoken to you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” Deuteronomy 1:21 NAS

Wow! What a place to be in! A place many of us have been in. A place where we know what path God wants us to follow.

But Israel wanted more information. (Boy, does that sound familiar!) They asked to send spies into the land and God consented. So Moses sent 12 spies into Canaan and when they returned, they reported to the people not only about how good the land was, but also how big and formidable the people were. Israel took their eyes off how awesome their God was (is!) and all He had done for them and focused on how big the people, their obstacles, were. Big mistake.

Canaan was their Promised Land. Their destination. Their goal. When they focused on how impossible it appeared it was for them to reach their Promised Land, they chickened out. Something I'm well acquainted with.

Numbers 14:22-23 and 35 tells us what God thought of their response “Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it...In this wilderness they shall be destroyed, and there they will die.”

I don't know about you, but I don't want to die in the desert.

As we slide toward the end of January, let's remember all that God has done for us, focus on Him, and press on. Let's go in and conquer the land and the goals God has placed before us this year!

God's promise to Israel all those years ago is still good today, for us.

“Do not be shocked, nor fear them. The Lord your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you...in all the way which you have walked until you came to this place.” Deuteronomy 1:29-30 NAS

So tell me, are you heading for the Promised Land or still wandering in the desert?

Since Patty quit running from God's call on her life and surrendered her pen to Him, she's been happy. Life is never dull as she juggles being a wife, mom to a handful of kids and a couple of Capuchin monkeys, life on the road, and being a writer. As long as she's obeying God's leading, she figures that sanity is a novelty and not a necessity in the zoo she lives in. Patty clings to the promise that God will enable her to do what He asks of her, otherwise she would be living with the scaredy cats at the Funny Farm and not just occasionally visiting. You can find her on Instagram, too, where she daily sneaks in a few sane moments.